Side A:
Side B:
With a solid 6-to-4 ratio of Real Metal Tunes v/s shitty ballads, "Revolusi Mental" is one of the essentials of Malaysian Steel, and in a rare and snazzy full-color sleeve no less! The strength of Dinamik (man that sounds so much like an East-Euro act - more on that later..) lies in their songwriting and knack for superb harmonies - they simply have awesome, spinechilling tunes. There's a certain scruffiness in the the musical performance, but there's a warmth to the sound of the album and those slightly buzzing guitars merely boosts its charizma and it all gives the album that Obscüre Kült-edge we all love and adore.
The opening track "Pesta Rock" is a paragon of low-key Heavy Metal simplicity. There's no escaping the charm of this melo-NWOBHM-flavoured piece and yet it's probably the least heavy of the 6 songs* of this album. The title track is another gem of olde Maiden'y Power Metal with an exotic flavour that could have been snatched straight off Turbo's "Dorosłe Dzieci", and the heavy trot of the catchy "Rindu Rindu" closes side A with a tight grip of the listener. Side B opens up with "Pesanan", somewhat continuing the same Turbo-vibes as the title track in the best of ways, but it's the last 2 tracks** that really elevates this album into why-the-hell-isn't-this-on-your-wantlist-yet!?-material. Somewhere else in the deep annals if this site I remember writing something about every country in the world having their very own "Hold Back The Lightning" and Dinamik's "Tahyul" could very well be Malaysia's contribution. Unfortunately it also comes with the most prominent example of the album's one flaw: when the otherwise excellent vocalist goes for a more screaming technique he occationally sounds a bit flat and it kinda ruins the chorus of this tune somewhat.
Other than that - brilliant. And so - one of my favourite moves in musical artistry - the band saves the best song for last. "Syahid" is strike 3 for Exotic Maiden/Turbo-gold and by the Gods that chorus will melt the flesh off your bones!
The fact that I'm almost tempted to go hunt down the MC/CD-only follow-up after this should be proof enough that this is quite a special release and you're doing yourself a disservice if you're not checking it out merely for ridiculous reasons like "oh, I don't collect Asian Metal". If you want to switch to a cheaper, less addictive hobby at a later stage there's always heroin...
*=ballads are not songs.
**=fuck 'em, they're not even "tracks".